The annual attempts to resume the Passover sacrifice received
a first significant rabbinical backing recently. Safed�s Chief Rabbi Shmuel
Eliyahu, a prominent religious Zionism leader, has called on the public to
perform the sacrifice mitzvah on the eve of the Jewish holiday, in about two
weeks.

Speaking during a Halacha lesson in Jerusalem last week, the
rabbi warned that Jews evading the mitzvah were risking �Kareth� - a
supernatural punishment for transgressing Jewish Law.

According to Rabbi Eliyahu, there is a halachic, legal and
public possibility to offer a Passover sacrifice these days. During the lesson,
he quoted senior rabbinical authorities, adding that Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalisher �
one of the founders of modern and religious Zionism � had asked the Turkish
sultan to allot an area on the Temple Mount for the erection of an altar for a
Passover sacrifice.

The Safed rabbi went on to say that the Passover sacrifice
could be slaughtered in front of the Dome of the Rock plaza, although the Temple
no longer exists and the people of Israel are defined as �tameh met� (in a
status of impurity which comes from contact with a dead body).

In order to overcome the greatest obstacle, beyond the
political problem, an altar must be erected, the rabbi said. He also called for
the preparation of �priesthood clothes,� which are the only ones in which
Kohanim (priests) can perform their work at the Temple.

Mission possible

Addressing the legal aspect, Rabbi Eliyahu claimed that every
person has the right to perform the commandment of his religion according to his
own understanding. He added that petitions filed with the High Court of Justice
against the sacrifice were accepted only because the police were unprepared to
secure the ceremony.

�It�s perfectly clear that if the public pressures its
representatives in the government or in the Knesset, everything will change. If
the judges have ruled that the police must secure simpler protests, why not the
Passover sacrifice?�

Eliyahu rejected the claim that it was impossible to resume
the mitzvah publicly. Addressing the international diplomatic ramifications, he
said, �We are being threatened that any movement on our part on the Temple Mount
will launch the third world war� (But) we can free our souls of the horror of
the gentiles, just like we freed ourselves before the Exodus.�

He rejected the internal opposition too. �Some fear the
public echo of the Passover sacrifice � how will the seculars view it? What will
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals say? The truth is that this
should not even be discussed�

�We have already been scorned for the circumcision mitzvah,
persecuted and condemned to death for that. Today the UN�s health organization
recommends that all men undergo circumcision in order to avoid illnesses.�

Rabbi Eliyahu said the Torah had predicted that some would
mock the sacrifice mitzvah. Such a person, he noted, is called in the Passover
Haggadah, the �wicked son,� who cleans his hands and says, �This doesn�t belong
to me, this blood and primitiveness. I am an enlightened person. I respect
animals. I don�t slaughter them barbarically.�

The rabbi estimated, based on the Bible stories, that those
who oppose this mitzvah would eventually change their mind and join the Temple
work.

�Break spiritual barrier�

In order to increase the motivation to offer a Passover
sacrifice, Eliyahu noted that this is one of two �active mitzvot� (along with
the circumcision), and that those evading it risk supernatural punishment and
�cause great damage to themselves and to the entire world.�

He added that his father, former Chief Rabbi Mordechai
Eliyahu, wrote that this custom may still exist these days.

�These things should make us break the spiritual barrier
preventing us from thinking about offering the Passover sacrifice,� Rabbi
Eliyahu concluded.

He said his remarks were not lip service, but laws being
learned �as a real demand and real preparation for the Passover sacrifice.
Although we are not used to it, and have gotten used to living without a temple,
we must change our ways.� �